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Is discrimination legal or not? What about blurring the lines between church and state? How about doing both?

Further blurring the line between church and state, on Sept. 22 the Bush administration issued four new regulations allowing faith-based institutions to receive federal grants and contracts while discriminating in employment. According to The American-Statesman, the Department of Health and Human Services finalized regulations giving faith-based organizations access to nearly $20 billion in HHS grants, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development will make faith-based groups eligible to compete for $8 billion in HUD grants. Bush opted to implement his initiative through executive orders after being unable to persuade Congress of the initiative. David Noble, executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats, criticizes the regulations as anti-gay. In a Sept. 22 news release Noble states, "as long as Jerry Falwell believes that gays are going to hell, he can receive federal money to discriminate against them. 2004 Should our tax dollars be used in this manner?

Public Comments

1. the line between church and state needs to be crisp and clear.
2. They also helped an all black College get out of bankruptcy.Thats discrimination, So what about the small white colleges? You probable need to leave the Gods stuff alone. what you think?
3. No but unfortunately Bush is breaching the boundaries and must be resisted
4. It is hard to determine what Jerry Falwell thinks anymore. Since his death he has been strangely uncommunicative. Hopefully he will stay that way. Not to be disagreeable however I must point out that Mr. Bush lacks the authority to do what you claim he has done. The Congress must first appropriate the money. Until then Mr. Bush can regulate all he likes but has no lucre to back his regs up. As for discrimination, well old friend, the US Supreme Court determined that religious organizations have the right to limit their employment to those who share their religious beliefs so Bush's moves there are perfectly in accord with the Constitution as interpreted by the Supremes. As for the regs being Anti-gay, Good. There is no reason for the people to have to support gays or anything gays want just as there is no reason for the people to have to pay for abortions. By the way, I am Pro-choice but still feel that abortion is a private matter which the taxpayers should not have to fund.
5. Should our tax dollars be spent to pay for legislative chaplains? Military chaplains? Military chapels? Prison chaplains and prison chapels? Should our tax dollars be spent to put the words "In God We Trust" on our currency? And yes, the federal government can legally discriminate against gay people. Have you ever heard of the policy of banning gay people from the military? There is no federal law which says that the federal government cannot discriminate against gays.
6. I think the line between Church and State should be clearly defined and should not be blurred by any meaning of the word.The reason behind these words are so that favoritism can be elimanated if that is at all possible.